It is known to use stamped and formed box receptacle terminals or contacts in automotive electrical systems to establish contact with pins or blades extending from mating terminals housed in a connector or from a printed circuit board header.
Box receptacle contacts typically have upwardly formed sidewalls extending from a base of the contact and a top wall extending between the sidewalls to enclose a box receptacle portion of the contact. A spring is formed from the base typically in a form of a cantilever beam. When a mating contact is inserted into the box receptacle portion between the cantilever beam and the top wall, deflection of the cantilever beam generates a mating force. While the main contact point for the mating contact may be along the top wall of the box receptacle contact, deflection of the cantilever beam generates a sufficient contact force to establish a reliable connection between the receptacle terminal and the mating contact. In a vehicle wiring harness, a plurality of these box receptacle terminals receive a plurality of mating contacts. Increasingly, it is desirable to reduce the weight, or mass of the vehicle so that fuel economy of the vehicle may increase. Thus, decreasing the mass of a box contact/mating contact connection where a plurality of these connections are used subtracts mass from the vehicle. It also remains a desirable goal to maintain or improve the electrical connection between the box receptacle contact, or the receptacle contact section and the received mating contact.
Accordingly, a robust contact section terminal/mating contact connection is needed having decreased mass that also has reliable electrical operating performance.